Hard rock half stack ampli fiers

131
£691
(cab)
£579
(cab)
£1,369
(head)
£849
(head)
HARD ROCK HALF STACKS GROUP TEST
E
ngl has become a
recognised name in
metal circles. Giving
more power and added
lower mid range than its 60-watt
brother, the 100 is the latest
addition to the range. Engl invites
us to “burn up the stage” on its
website. It’d be rude not to.
One look at this character and
you can tell it means business.
Its evilly simple in its layout and
built like a tank to boot. Plug it
in and you get a pleasing clean
sound, but unlike some of the
others here, there’s less middle
ground. Pushing the Bottom
switch means you don’t have
to crank the gain too hard for a
tight heavy distortion, perfect for
Hetfield-style chugging.
A quick glance at the back of
the amp reveals the noise gate
control. Turn this up along with
the gain and you’re in noise-free
extreme metal heaven. The
Fireball also delivers an amazing
Mesa-style low end punch to the
gut that stays focused at high-
gain settings.
Plus, in a similar fashion to the
Switchblade amp, the Fireball
lets you monitor the health of
the output valves with its PTM
(Power Tube Monitor) LEDs.
Conclusion: The Fireball 100 is
definitely the most aggressive
sounding in the group, and it’s
unapologetically heavy. The
sheer power it delivers places
it high on the list for those who
want an all-out metal amp,
but if you’re after a little more
subtlety you might find it a bit
one dimensional. With our ears
ringing and eyes bleeding we
were tempted to ring the bell
here, but there’s more.
■฀Noise gate
The handy built-in
noise gate keeps your
high-gain sounds tidy
Engl E635 Fireball 100
Great balls of  re!
For: Powerful, aggressive metal tone
Against: More variation is available
✮✮✮✮✮
SUMMARY
TG says: Burn baby, burn!
Blackstar Series One 100
T
his 100-watt head has
a similar architecture
to the 45 combo we
reviewed last issue.
It has the same four modes,
Blackstar’s ISF feature, and the
DPR (Dynamic Power Reduction)
control, which reduces the
output power for full tone at
lower volumes. It has four EL34
valves in the power stage (the
combo has two), and Celestion
V30 speakers in the cab.
The four modes of the Series
One 100 have pretty much every
classic amp sound covered.
Shifting between them gives you
shimmering cleans right through
to a strutting rock ’n’ roll crunch
and a fully saturated, chunky
metal tone. The ISF control jets
you between a Yankee bite and a
smoother British tone.
As fans of Loyd Grossman
we park it in the mid Atlantic
position, leaning towards the
US with the gain up for a bright,
thumping heavy rock tone. Using
the DPR control gives you power
tube saturation at lower levels,
and even setting it at 10 watts
will be plenty loud enough for
most live settings.
Conclusion: At the start we said
we’d be looking for versatility and
with great tone – and we found
it. There are amps here whose
approach is more specialist, but
if you want an amp that covers
vintage and modern tones with
authenticity at a price point that
defies the laws of economics,
the Series One will gladly bank
your cheque.
✮✮✮✮✮
For: Versatile, competitive price
Against: It weighs a freakin’ tonne!
SUMMARY
TG says: Back in Black(star)
■฀Tone
Engl’s latest
effort pumps out
some extremely
aggressive metal
Modes ■
You get four
all-valve amp
modes packed
with features at a
bargain price point
■฀DPR
The DPR control
takes you from
practice to stage
power levels
“THE BLACKSTAR SERIES ONE 100
COVERS VINTAGE AND MODERN
TONES WITH AUTHENTICITY”
Bottom switch ■
Push this in and you
get a beefy low end
punch, perfect for
metal rhythm
ISF ■
Blackstar’s patented
ISF control gives you
classic US to UK style
amp voicings
At a glance
OUTPUT: 100 watts
SPEAKER: 4x12” Celestion
V60
VA LV ES : 4x 12AX7, 4x
6L6GC
CONTROLS: Clean/lead
gain, EQ, master volumes,
presence, noise gate
SOCKETS: Speaker,
footswitch, FX loop
W E I G H T: 21 kg (head);
50kg (cab)
DIMENSIONS: [HxWxD]
(head) 270x710x270mm;
(cab) 750x740x360mm
C O N TA C T: The Music Force
Distribution 01780 781631
WEB: www.engl-amps.com
At a glance
Blackstar Series
One 100
OUTPUT: 100 watts
SPEAKER: 4x Celestion V30
VA LV ES : 2x ECC83, 1x
ECC82, 4x EL34
CONTROLS: Gain/volume,
master, EQ, ISF, DPR,
SOCKETS: Speaker,
footswitch, FX loop,
W E I G H T: 23.2kg (head);
49kg (cab)
DIMENSIONS: [HxWxD]
(head) 725x285x278mm;
(cab) 837x755x356mm
C O N TA C T: Blackstar
Amplification 01536 312620
WEB: www.blackstaramps.
com
Engl E635 Fireball 100
New kids on the rock
TGR193.gear_test 131 14/8/09 7:47:18 am